We were alone with our little family for Christmas Eve this year and thought we'd try out a different Chinese place...bad idea! Although reassured by the owner that "all food fresh"...indeed it was NOT and not tasty either! We enjoyed what we could out of our dinner (the kids liked the sugar rolls) and then headed home to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" before tucking Olivia and Brady into bed for their first Christmas sleepover!!!
Christmas morning the kids were up bright and early at 6:00 a.m. Little Zachary was still sound asleep so we proceeded to let the kids open their stockings before he awoke.
Olivia got a crayon roll-up that I made, some dress-up shoes, bath color tablets, and of course an orange!
Brady got some cool dude sunglasses that he'd been asking for, two LEGO transformer sets and an orange!
This year at Brady's school they did a "Santa Store," where families donated gently used toys, games, books and movies for the students at the school to purchase for their family members for a small price. Brady wanted to buy everyone presents this year so armed with $2.00 in quarters (from his own penny bank) he set out on a mission! I think he did a good job too!
He got Daddy a checker/chess set, Mommy a Chinese checkers game, Olivia a doll and himself an action figure! He even helped wrap all the gifts himself! It was so cute to see him to excited to give to others!
"Santa" brought our family a new Book of Mormon stories book, as well as a family edition of the Book of Mormon. We just finished the Book of Mormon, having completed it in one year so now we are going to start over again in our new books!
Brady's big gift from us was Nintendo DS (which was FREE!!! as Chris got it from the lost and found at work!!! Customers have 30 days to claim left behind items...so score for us!!) It came with several games and the case and Chris ordered LEGO Star Wars to go along with it as well.
Brady also recieved: The movie Cars 2, Star Wars Eye-Spy Pillow and Captain America costume, both made by Mommy, and some books. He got a blanket and puppy pillow, as well as a Harry Potter LEGO set from Grammie and Grandpa Graf and a Christmas joke book from Great-Grammie Opals.
Olivia received: Her big gift from us was a Tangled doll and dress. She got books, her quiet book that mommy made and some other dress-ups. She also got a mini-Tangled doll from Aunties Shawnae and Chelsae and a lamb blanket and pillow from Grammie and Grandpa Graf.
Zachary received: $10 from GG & Papa, some wooden blocks from mommy and daddy, a new outfit from Great-Grandma Opals and some bibs from Grammie and Grandpa Graf.
Mommy received: A Boston Red Sox hat, a waffle iron and two movies from Daddy, another waffle iron!!and a calendar from Grammie and Grandpa Graf and some dish towels and a wooden spoon from Opal.
Daddy received: A new "bloggie touch" aka pocket camcorder, a Patriots insulated cup, a Patriots' bumper sticker and 2 new ties from mommy, a new tie (and waffle iron) from Grammie and Grandpa Graf.
As a family we also received some Christmas money from GG&Papa and Grammie and Grandpa Graf!!!
After we opened presents we checked on our plate of goodies to Santa and to see if he left us a note!!!
And then we ate a yummy breakfast which mommy had prepared the night before and had baking while we opened gifts! Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast: Egg and sausage casserole, cinnamon rolls and orange juice!!!
We had to quickly get ready becaue mommy had to be at church for Choir at 9:00 a.m. and church started at 9:30! Although it was a bit of a hustle and bustle, it was nice to attend a church service on Christmas and celebrate the Savior's birth with songs of praise and messages from our leaders. It was a wonderful Christmas morning.
After church we set right to getting the Christmas feast and appetizers ready. The children all played with their new things and we enjoyed the company of Chris' family once they arrived! First we visited and ate appetizers and then we opened gifts while we waited for dinner.
We gave Grammie a Tree of Life to hang family pictures from
I saved a few of our presents to the kids to open with Grammie and Grandpa so they could see them opening their gifts too!
The dinner: Cranberry-glazed pork loin, squash, mashed potatoes, stir-fried green beans with cranberries and almonds, stuffing, apple sauce, cranberry sauce and rolls.
CHEERS!!
For dessert we had chocolate chip pumpkin cake a la mode. We also had various little goodies that mom and Shawnae made! Along with milk and egg nog we were stuffed!!!
It was a wonderful, wonderful day!!!
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